Overprotection
by supremegreendragon
Summary: Kaoru is feeling a bit overprotected by Kenshin. Is it just her imagination or is Kenshin really being a bit obsessive. OOC. Rated for adult themes
1. Chapter 1

Kenshin is overprotective of Kaoru. She thinks it's sweet at first but then starts to lose her mind.

Disclaimer: Nothing owned

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Yahiko made such a sad face that you would have thought he just witnessed a brutal murder. That face only angered Kaoru more. Kenshin had agreed to let Kaoru do the cooking tonight and she was going to prove she had gotten better, dammit.

She was cussing in her mind again. Very unladly-like. Sanosuke really was a bad influence. Kaoru was chopping a few carrots and putting them into a boiling pot to simmer. She looked around her and realized something, gasping in horror, causing Yahiko to glance at her curiously.

"We don't have tofu," she whispered in terror.

Yahiko rolled his eyes at how dramatic the woman was being.

"We had the rest of it last night, remember? What's the big deal?"

Kaoru glared at the small boy. What a stupid question. Didn't he realize how serious this was?!

"I can't make dinner without it! I'm here to prove to that stupid fox that I can cook! She's coming for dinner tonight and I can't shut her up unless this dish is perfect! And it can't be perfect without tofu!"

Yahiko took a cowardly step back. Of course it would take Megumi to get Kaoru this upset. She was no longer a threat as far as Kenshin was concerned. She and Sanosuke were pretty much official. But the two women were still at their little bickering match.

Kaoru had her mind set on something. She grabbed a basket and rushed out the door. Yahiko followed her.

"Where are you going?" he demanded.

"Where do you think? I'm getting tofu."

"Is it that important?"

Kaoru didn't answer, she rushed away. Tofu. Must get tofu. She was so determined that she wasn't paying any attention to where she was going. She literally bumped into someone.

"Oro? Miss Kaoru?"

Kaoru felt her heart stop. That was Kenshin's chest she had bumped into. She had just….She tried not to look flustered. When she felt that her face was no longer red, she looked up toward her crush. Kenshin's face was one of confusion.

"Where are you going in such a hurry if you do not mind me asking? Is something the matter?"

He looked so concerned. God, that was so sweet of him. And the sweeter Kenshin was, the sexier he seemed to Kaoru.

Focus, Kaoru. Focus.

She laughed sheepishly and put a hand over her head.

"Oh. Nothing's wrong. I was just getting tofu."

"Right now?" Kenshin looked up at the sky, "The sun will set shortly."

"Don't worry. They'll still be open," Kaoru said dismissively.

She was a bit unnerved when Kenshin looked at her. He seemed a bit solemn for some reason. What was wrong with him? Kaoru honestly had no idea.

"It is not a good idea for you to go out by yourself, that it is not. And I cannot accompany you. The girls are here."

Kenshin, ever the protective one but Kaoru found him to be almost too protective. The store was just in town. She had been to town by herself plenty of times. Well, maybe not like a very substantial number of times. But plenty of times nonetheless.

"It will be alright, Kenshin. I'll be back before you know it."

Kaoru managed to brush passed him and dart off. Kenshin raised a hand toward her departing figure but otherwise made no move to stop her. Kaoru knew that he could easily stop her if he felt it absolutely necessary. His reluctance must mean that he trusted her to take care of herself.

Kaoru smiled in pride. That was just what she wanted in a man. Protective but not obsessive with her safety. She loved Kenshin dearly. If only he would realize how much she wanted him to ask her out.

She quickly made it to the shop and grabbed enough tofu for dinner. The shop maiden, a friend of Kaoru's by the name of Miyuki, showed concern that she was out by herself during sunset. Kaoru simply smiled and assured her like she did with Kenshin. Megumi was going to flip when she tasted this dish. She was going to think that Kenshin cooked dinner. That was how confident Kaoru was.

She was practically skipping as her daydreaming continued. Megumi wouldn't be the only one impressed. They would all lose their minds. And Kenshin would be so happy that she would be allowed to cook dinner from now on.

Kaoru didn't notice the dark presence following her until it was too late. Suddenly, two strong hands grabbed her, one covering her mouth to keep her from screaming. In terror, she dropped the tofu and had it splatter all over the ground.

"Looky here. A little birdy lost her way. Come here, sweetheart."

Her screams were muffled. The man's voice sounded…No. Surely the man wasn't thinking that? Would she be killed after he was done torturing her?

She knew how to fight, surely she could get rid of this man, she assured herself. However, when Kaoru tried to knee him in his sensitive area, the man shifted so she would miss. Despair rushed through her as quickly as fear did.

A sharp force threw the man off of her. Kaoru landed on her knee painfully but was otherwise okay, she was sure she knew who saved her. As she suspected, she turned around to see Kenshin glaring at the man. The man backed away, clearly seeing that his opponent was not your average man ready to fight. He ran away as fast as his legs could carry him and when Kaoru noted the gold eyes Kenshin had, she knew she had to play peacemaker in order to prevent him from hurting the man too badly. She rushed forward and hugged Kenshin, secretly enjoying how strong his torso felt against hers.

"Thank you for saving me, Kenshin. You're a lifesaver!"

She pulled away with a smile, expecting to see calm purple eyes. But she frowned when she noticed that her thanks did nothing to soothe Kenshin's wrath. The eyes were still the gold color of the manslayer.

"Kenshin?" she began in hesitation.

"Had I not followed you..." Kenshin trailed off there, leaving the rest to Kaoru's imagination. He sounded so upset but with her? And what about the girls? Did he leave only Yahiko to guard the dojo?

Kaoru looked at her spilled tofu.

"Maybe tofu's not that important for the dish."

It was a stupid thing to say but Kaoru was desperate to change the topic. Kenshin held onto her hand gently but firmly. He silently guided her back home. Kaoru had a feeling Kenshin was really, really upset.

She prayed he would cool off by the time they got back.


	2. Chapter 2

They made it back to the dojo safely, which wasn't a surprise considering that Kenshin looked like he could've slain the next person to so much as speak to Kaoru. His grip on her had eased the closer they got home.

Something on the porch gave her reason to pause, she almost couldn't believe her eyes and would've laughed had she not feared Kenshin's sour mood. Sanosuke's head was being embraced by one of the girls while the other was staring intently at his back. The girls smiled when they saw them coming. Kaoru couldn't see Kenshin's face but she was certain that he was putting on a much more pleasant face for them. Suzume and Ayame came rushing forward and hugged at each of Kenshin's knees. Sanosuke sighed in relief, Koaru had no doubt that he wasn't at all pleased at being assigned their guardian. Not that Sanosuke didn't like them but he wasn't at all good with children. He had problems getting along with even Yahiko.

"Uncle Ken, Sano-san wouldn't let us put bows in his hair," Ayame complained.

Sanosuke stood up.

"You're ratting me out now? That's the thanks I get for watching you two?"

"Now now. We don't want to make Sano do anything he's uncomfortable with," Kenshin reasoned calmly.

"But his hair is so pretty. It needs bows."

Sanosuke looked away so the other two adults couldn't see his expression. Kaoru was smiling by now, quite forgetting about Kenshin's anger.

"I agree that he has nice hair. Could you two excuse Miss Kaoru and I for a second? We need to talk about dinner tonight."

Kaoru refrained from gulping when she felt the hand on her wrist tighten once more. Sanosuke frowned when he sensed something wrong but smartly remained quiet. Kaoru allowed Kenshin to take her inside where they could talk in private.

Kenshin turned around to stare face to face with her. His eyes were narrow once more but thankfully purple. At least he wasn't completely Battousai.

"Look...Kenshin. I..." Kaoru trailed off because she had no idea what to say next.

"I was very frightened, Miss Kaoru, that I was. You knew what that man's intentions were, I'm sure. And he wouldn't have risked letting you live long enough to report him to the police. I cannot believe I allowed such a thing to happen."

"I'll take a weapon with me next time," Kaoru negotiated.

Her heart sank when Kenshin's scowl deepened. Apparently that wasn't what he wanted to hear from her.

"There will not be a next time."

"...Excuse me?"

Kaoru was starting to get upset now. How dare Kenshin try to control her life like that as if she were eight and he was her father! He had no right to order her around like that.

She matched his glare with her own. He was not deterred in the slightest. When Kaoru realized she was going to lose the staring contest, she tried another tactic: reasoning with him.

"Kenshin, I'm sorry to have caused you to worry but that's going too far. What do you even mean by that statement? That I'm not allowed outside ever again?"

"Of course not," Kenshin argued with the same glare intact, "I simply mean that you will not go out by yourself. Surely you would agree that that's reasonable?"

Kaoru so wanted to argue but part of her saw this protective side of Kenshin almost sweet. Maybe she could humor him a little? At least until he was over this shock he was going through and realized how stupid this was? It sounded like an okay plan since Kaoru figured that he would be back to normal in one or two days time.

She lowered her shoulders and looked down in polite submission.

"Very well. If it will make you feel better."

"Miss Kaoru," the tone was so gentle now that it made her look back up. Kenshin's eyes were no longer narrow but round and shining. "Please do not think I'm trying to take away your independence or make you unhappy. I'm just worried, you all are my family, that you are. And you-"

He trailed off, Kaoru listened intently with a fast beating heart. She...what? What was he going to say?

Before the samurai could continue, the door slid open. Sanosuke and Yahiko were both looking irritable.

"I'm hungry. What happened to dinner?" Sanosuke complained.

"Yeah. I'm starving. And I don't see any tofu. What'd you waste all that time for, ugly?"

Kaoru gave Yahiko her usual glare. It would be fine, she reassured herself. Everything was back to normal, nothing had changed.

Kenshin decided to help her. Kaoru allowed it only when he agreed to let her cook the main course. It would be hard without tofu but she decided to put a few slices of cucumbers into the stew. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Kenshin staring at her intently while she chopped the vegetables but she couldn't figure out what he found so fascinating about it.

Finally, dinner was served. Megumi poured sake for Sanosuke and Kaoru made sure that the alcohol was far away from Yahiko.

Kaoru was happy to see them eat the stew, even if most of them made faces. Kenshin seemed surprisingly hungry because he ate most of the stew. Kaoru tried not to feel too flattered.

Sanosuke whispered something to Kenshin while glancing at Kaoru. Kenshin shook his head at whatever he said. Kaoru wanted to demand to know what they were talking about but refrained. She felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Is something the matter?" Megumi asked in a rarely heard concern voice.

"Kenshin got upset with me today," Kaoru really felt the need to get it off her chest. She told the whole story and of her plan to humor Kenshin for a while. Megumi frowned at this.

"I hope you're right."

"Sure, I am. I'll just do what he wants until he calms down. What could possibly go wrong?" Kaoru demanded.

"Well. Doing that might only encourage him."

"He's Kenshin, Megumi. We all know him."

Megumi stared across the room at Kenshin.

"What about the Battousai? How well do we know him?"

Kaoru stayed silent.


	3. Chapter 3

Her hand went to her knee while she was still half asleep, feeling a bit uncomfortable for reasons she couldn't pinpoint. With eyes fluttering open she managed to conclude that her knee was aching. She got out of the futon to inspect it. There was a dark bruise right in the middle of her knee cap. She took a moment to think, then remembered that she had landed on it when Kenshin was saving her.

Suddenly she was very alert. Kenshin had acted all weird yesterday. Was he back to normal and if not, how would he react if he found out about her knee?

'Don't be stupid, Kaoru,' she mentally reassured herself. Kenshin would probably be upset if he found out but she would get nothing more than a scolding. Still, a scolding from him sounded demeaning enough, she was going to take care he didn't find out.

Once dressed, she left her room to find everyone sleeping. Even Kenshin's head was lolled downwards while he was sitting down in the corner, looking almost like a humble warrior admitting defeat.

They had been satisfied with her cooking last night, right? Who would argue against her making breakfast? She remembered how much of her stew Kenshin had consumed and her heart fluttered at the thought of him eating more of her cooking.

She began by leaving rice to boil, then she grabbed her cooking knife and started slicing some pickled cucumbers and turnips to go with it. A figure came up from behind her. She startled back in surprise, until she realized it was only Kenshin. His calm smile charmed her into believing that he was over the shock from yesterday.

"Good morning, Kenshin."

"Good morning, Miss Karou," Kenshin beamed, "Shall I help you with cooking?"

"That's-" before she could decline, Kenshin took the knife and sliced the vegetables at an inhuman speed.

The strange behavior nearly left Karou gaping, he had never did something like that without first waiting for her answer. Frustration tugged at her heart but she was able to prevent herself from showing it. Kenshin cleaned the knife when he was done and stowed it away on the top shelf. A vivid memory of her parents placing dangerous things up there so she couldn't get to it crossed her mind. But it was different now. She would still be able to reach it, so maybe a Kenshin had no motives by placing it up there. Maybe he thought that was where it went.

She knew, however, that explanation was impossible. Kenshin had been cooking in her kitchen for ages so he knew very well where she stored all her things. This time she couldn't help but feel aggravated.

"Kenshin," she seethed.

The samurai didn't appear to notice her anger. He gave her an innocent look, purple eyes wide and questioning.

"Oro? Yes, Miss Karou?"

"You know I can handle a knife, right?"

Her anger twisted to slight fear when his eyes narrowed for no more than half a second. They calmed quickly but now Kenshin was frowning.

"Please do not be upset. To be completely honest with you, I was a little bit worried watching you use it last night. Your cooking has improved tremendously but your knife skills scare me."

That was an unusually cruel thing for Kenshin to say. Who was this man and what did he do with the real Kenshin. Kaoru's anger intensified.

"What about it scares you?"

"You hold it the wrong way, making it dangerous for you to use."

"Then teach me if you're so concerned!" Kaoru insisted loudly.

"Of course, Miss Kaoru. I'll be glad to teach you later," Kenshin smiled and waved his hands to soothe her.

Kaoru's outburst must have woken everyone else up. She heard them groaning awake and sitting up.

Sanosuke came in the kitchen first, glancing at Kenshin with a weird but knowing expression. Kenshin stared back and Kaoru knew that there was a silent exchange between the two of them.

The others came and breakfast was served. Yahiko and Sanosuke made quick work of most of it. Kaoru ate a little bit and Kenshin and Megumi ate the least.

Sanosuke set his water down, looking at Kaoru.

"I better get going," he announced, standing up.

Megumi followed him quickly, saying a quick goodbye. Yahiko stared at them as they left.

"They seem to be in a hurry to leave."

"Yeah," Kaoru agreed.

"They probably have to get an early start on some errands. Miss Megumi has been really working Sanosuke hard," Kenshin explained.

"Not hard enough," Yahiko grumbled then turn to Kaoru, "Are we doing the usual exercises today."

Kaoru opened her mouth to answer but Kenshin spoke suddenly.

"Maybe it's time you taught Yahiko some new moves. He seems more than ready."

The two stared at him. Kenshin wasn't one to rudely answer a question intended for someone else. Kaoru wondered for a moment if this was some plot against her. She shook the idea away. What motive could Kenshin have for her to teach her student new techniques?

"All right. Ready Yahiko?"

The two spent all day practicing while Kenshin did the usual chores. Kaoru's knee didn't give her any problems until sunset.

She went into her room to inspect the bruise. Her door opened suddenly and the next moment Kenshin was staring at her knee in concern.

"What happened?"

Kaoru had no time to recover from her shock. When did Kenshin ever open her door before knocking? Kenshin got on his knees in order to inspect hers.

"It seems you landed on it."

"Yeah," Kaoru blushed. She was still dressed but her bare legs were showing! And now Kenshin could see she was hiding from him. "But it's alright."

Kenshin looked at her seriously.

"We should get Megumi to treat that," it sounded more like an order than a request.

He left at godlike speed as if he were in combat. Kaoru stared after him with a sinking feeling that it was going to take longer for him to get back to normal than she first thought.


	4. Chapter 4

Megumi was there a lot sooner than expected. She kept giving Kenshin an annoyed look, making Kaoru wonder if she had been pestered into getting here as fast as she could. For once, she felt guilty for having Megumi do something for her.

The doctor took a look at the leg while Kenshin waited outside the door to give the women privacy. Megumi arched a brow.

"He's making quite a fuss over this. But I have a good guess that it still aches, right?"

"I agree. He's making too big a deal out of this. I'm worried, Megumi. I'm worried he's lost it somehow."

"We'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now, say he's just being his normal worried self," Megumi proposed, tying a bandage around the knee cap after applying some medication, "Though I'm surprised he even found out about this. I would think you would be more careful to not let him see."

Kaoru flushed an angry red and hissed, "It's not my fault. He barged in without knocking. I was caught off guard."

Now the doctor was gaping at her in shock.

"Kenshin actually did that?"

The anger left and Kaoru nodded somberly. Megumi raised her brows and took in a deep breath.

"Forget what I said about the benefit of the doubt. He's definitely battousai."

"You don't really think that," Kaoru asked in horror.

Megumi looked at the door, seeming like she was staring past it and straight at the man both knew was there. The longer haired woman leaned her head in closer to Kaoru.

"Give it some time. If he doesn't go back to normal soon, we'll have to interfere."

"What can we do?" Kaoru whispered back, knowing they were no match against the legendary manslayer.

"Even the battousai part of him cares about you. That much is obvious. We can take advantage of that if we really need to. But let's not make a move until tomorrow. If he is still acting like this, I will get Sanosuke and Yahiko to help us straighten him out. Alright?"

Kaoru nodded, her heart sinking a little. She had a bad feeling that this was just the tip of the iceberg and things could potentially get real bad real fast.

Megumi sensed her fearful mood and offered a friendly smile.

"Now, as for the leg, it will be okay to walk even though it will hurt. Though I would advise against doing anything too strenuous. Apply the lotion on once in the morning and once at night and it should heal up pretty quickly. I'll let Sir Ken know."

With the wound bandaged, Megumi stood up and left the room. Kaoru stared at her departing figure before standing up herself. Now that attention had been brought to it, she could notice a small ache on her knee. Otherwise, it wasn't that big a deal.

Before she could start walking toward the door, Kenshin was already making his way inside. Kaoru eyed him warily as he approached. Kenshin's hands were connected and completely covered in his clothing. The sight reminded Kaoru of her father coming up to wish her a good night. Kenshin smiled pleasantly at her but within the depths of his eyes Kaoru could trace some seriousness.

"How are you feeling, Miss Kaoru?"

The girl braced herself because she felt like he could change at a moment's notice. She was still upset at him for barging in but when he was in batousai mode, she had no position to be angry at him. She was well aware that up to this point she had only been able to throttle Kenshin for poor behavior because he allowed it.

"I'm good. Megumi gave me medicine as I'm sure she told you."

"That's good," Kenshin smiled. Somehow the smile seemed eerie, even though it looked no different than normal.

Kaoru waited for him to excuse himself but Kenshin remained standing where he was, blinking silently and staring at her unnervingly. She wanted to be rid of his presence fairly shortly for the longer she was with him, the faster her heart pumped. Was it out of terror that it beat or was she infatuated with how much attention he was giving her?

"Well, I guess I'll go make some tea," she proposed, searching for any excuse she could muster, "I'm sure that will help with the pain."

"I'll go get you some tea, Miss Kaoru."

The offer sounded a little too forceful to be a suggestion. Kaoru watched him leave and only after she knew he was safely out of earshot did she groan in frustration.


End file.
